At Least He Has Their Friendship
by Fuyuhiku
Summary: If he had thought watching his first soulmate die was painful, Hitsugaya had apparently never known what pain was. Watching his second soulmate marry another, now that's excruciating. Soulmate AU!Marks only exist in Soul Form. Only those in Soul Society know about them. One-sided Ichihitsu with Ichihime. Hitsugaya POV. Background RanGin. Sort of cannon compliant?


If he had thought watching his first soulmate die was painful, Hitsugaya had apparently never known what pain was. Considering he was almost sliced in half three times during the Winter War and was tortured in the Quincy Blood War, you'd think that he would be no stranger to pain. Yet, standing there in a formal kamino, with a slight smile on his face, the experience was excruciating. The realization that he had two chances, two soulmates, two happy endings, and somehow messed up both of them, the fact that his own soulmates didn't want him, was painful.

_At least he has their friendship_.

The thought was hollow, as was the truth behind the statement. Kusaka had known that they were soulmates. They were best friends. They were almost lovers. They were an unhappy ever after. Hitsugaya has trusted him fully and faithfully, and he was stabbed in the back for his efforts. By his own soulmate. For power. With Kusaka's betrayal and subsequent death, Hitsugaya gave up on soulmates. Gave up on love and a happy ever after. He dedicated himself fully to his work, to his men. Protecting them, building them up, and remembering them when they were gone.

His lieutenant, Matsumoto, confused him. She was one of the believers. She had a soulmate. She knew who he was and she loved him, believed in him. Ichimaru was not who Hitsugaya would have put with his lieutenant but "Fate has its reasons." Even after he betrayed her and left the Seireitei, she still loved him and believed in him. It confused him, but "people do stupid things for love and I believe in soulmates, so I believe in him."

When a new soulmark, a blue ring made up of a crescent moon and an ice dragon, appeared on the opposite arm of the one that once held an ice blue snowflake interweaved with a purple ice dragon, Hitsugaya ignored it. When Matsumoto saw it, she was cheerful for hours until the captain said that he wasn't going to do anything about it. He never gave a reason and she didn't expect him to. That's how they worked. Complete trust in each other and in each other's secrets. If she needed to know, he would tell her and he knew the reverse was true of her as well.

When Hitsugaya met his new soulmate, he knew there was a mistake. There was no way that this boisterous, uncultured, idiotic _human_ was his soulmate. This absolute _moron_ who had stormed a _militaristic_ government filled with beings of _supernatural powers_ with no plan, no backup, and not even a base of operations. Just two humans, a quincy and a cat.

But time would change his views.

Don't get Hitsugaya wrong, he still knew that the human was an idiot, but he was so… so much _more_. He was brave, he was loyal, he was intelligent. He had read almost as many books as the ice captain, which is a feat in itself, preferring authors like Shakespeare and Tolkien to Hitsugaya's Tolstoy and Mary Shelly. He could keep up with the ice captain in a game of whits, whether it be a game of chess or a battle of words. He understood Hitsugaya's dark, dry humor and sarcastic undertones. He could keep up with the captain in terms of power and strength. Not once did Hitsugaya feel the need to protect the idiot like he did his sister or his Lieutenant, instead it was his _choice_. His soulmate would visit Hitsugaya whenever he was in Soul Society and they could debate endlessly on literature, music, movies, war...

It's because of this idiotic human that Toushiro really began to live again. He spent less time working and more time trying to catch the latest Marvel film. He went clubbing and to music festivals and concerts. He even went to a rave once. It was too loud and too crowded, but it was exhilarating. He went snowboarding, hiking, surfing (that was a disaster) and mountain climbing. He spent more time in the Living World in one year than he had the entire time he had been a shinigami.

But Toushiro was a coward. He never told his soulmate the truth. Never told him about the matching marks on their wrists. He didn't want to lose again, didn't want this amazing moronic human to die because of him. And, if he was completely honest, he didn't really believe he deserved him, didn't deserve that wonderful, selfless idiot.

So, he watched over and protected his soulmate when he could. Slowly, protecting his soulmate turned into protecting his friends, his family, and _her_. He was one of the first to realize her crush on his soulmate. He was one of the first to see how much his soulmate cared for her and how far he was willing to go for her. Toushiro could never despise her. She was too good, too kind, too selfless. She deserved his soulmate, so much more than he did. Toushiro was the one who beat the crap out of his soulmate when he was being too idiotic to notice their shared feelings. He was one of the ones who helped him when the first date jitters got to much of the moron. He helped him find a ring, helped him set up the proposal, and now he's standing in formal robes, watching as his soulmate, his last chance, marries the girl who deserved him.

Not the broken mess of a captain, who wasn't even wanted by his first soulmate, let alone by his second.

_At least he has their friendship._


End file.
